Cain braced the butt of his trident on the road, holding it firmly as the Lizard Man impaled himself, bending the weapon, then snapping it as one leg hit the ground. The injured attacker attempted to push away from the spear, but he fell over and started to flop around in his death throes.
Cain didn’t have time to find the second spear as the other Amazonian cleared the blockade and came at him. He ducked the creature’s thrust and tried to grab the shaft as it passed, but the Amazonian twisted it away from him.
The Lizard Man stood with his body exposed during the time he rotated the spear to the side and back over his head. Cain jumped straight up and kicked the Amazonian in the chest with both feet. They fell in opposite directions. Cain scrambled forward, throwing himself over the body in the road and getting a hand on the creature’s trident as he passed. When he stood, the other Amazonian crouched, trident held firmly in both hands.
Cain mirrored the Lizard Man’s pose as he circled to the side, away from the barricade and away from the dead Amazonian, to give himself the most room to maneuver. He parried the Lizard Man’s first thrust. It was tentative. The attackers had already misjudged Cain sufficiently that two of their number had died. The third would not be so hasty. He acted as if they had all the time in the world.
Cain looked around, afraid that this Lizard Man might be delaying until reinforcements arrived. Fearing that time was not on his side, he attacked, high, low, low, then from the side. Each attack was easily countered. The Lizard Man was not afraid and didn’t leave himself open. Both hands expertly maneuvered his trident, almost as if he was toying with Cain, tiring him to easily pounce when Cain’s inevitable misstep came.
The ‘cat’s screech surprised them both as Lutheann’s white form launched itself from the top of the barricade onto the Lizard Man’s back. He used his trident in an attempt to dislodge her. Cain was there in an instant, driving his trident deep into the creature’s exposed midsection. The Lizard Man froze, his arms wide. Lutheann reached around his neck and ripped into his throat before jumping down.
The Amazonian fell forward, driving the spear impaling him as deep as the three tines would go, then fell to the side. Cain picked up the remaining trident, looking around for new enemies. Lutheann was soaked and looked angry.
“I’m glad you were able to get out. I was going to lose that fight.” She nodded to him before heading back to the vehicle. He opened his implant to record the scene, then closed it again.
Using the trident as a lever, her broke the barricade down, enough that the hover car could drive over it. They climbed into the Mark 7 and locked the doors. He started it, carefully lifted it over the barricade, and jammed the pedal to get away from that place. He opened his implant and reported the incident to Holly, who dispatched a security bot to investigate. Cain was covered in green blood, although his uniform hid it well.
“What the hell?!” he yelled at the windshield. “Don’t we have enough problems out there in the universe without creating new ones here?” he said far more calmly, trying to rationalize the actions of a few outliers. He shook his head. He’d make blasters standard issue and part of the uniform no matter where a Marine was.
Coldstream
Cain cleared the rainforest and took a wide left turn as he headed toward his hometown of Coldstream. He stopped on the outskirts and got out. He stood looking down on it. All the memories of his youth were there. He looked at his hands, calloused, weathered. He wore a uniform that was covered in blood. He’d been gone for less than a year and he felt completely different about himself, about almost everything.
Aletha was the constant. He climbed in and headed the hover car for her house. He stopped out front, hesitating before going to her door. What was he afraid of? He’d seen death that day and too often during his service in the SES. There shouldn’t be anything he feared, but there was–rejection.
He needed her forgiveness and a spark of hope that they could have a future together.
Aletha’s father came out the door, squinting before recognizing the young man standing before him. He smiled broadly and waved, then yelled inside for his wife. Cain hadn’t considered going home, seeing his own parents. He’d call them later.
“It’s great to see you,” Cain said as he approached, hand out for a hearty handshake and man-hug. Aletha’s mother Alora hugged him and then pulled back when she realized he was covered in half-dried green ichor.
“Get out of those things so I can wash them.” He tried to resist, but she wouldn’t take no for an answer. Aletha wasn’t home and would not be for a while. She had a job at the school as a teacher’s aide, and it was still early. They’d send her a note telling her that Cain was home.
“I already have, but I expect she’s not talking with me,” he said cautiously. Lutheann sat by his side, looking at the older humans curiously.
“Don’t be silly. She’s looking forward to seeing you,” Alora said. Cain sat there wrapped in a big towel, feeling like he was back in school. Lutheann reluctantly let them pet her, but only for about twenty seconds before she strolled away, turning the door knob and letting herself out. Cain suspected she could open doors and was glad that she was able to get out of the hover car and come to his rescue.
‘Thanks, Luthie. You saved my life, again. Is this what you thought you signed up for?’
‘There’s less action than I like, but yes. I figured watching over you was a full-time job. I was right. Carnesto said you’d be boring. I’m glad he was wrong,’ she replied.
“Tell us about those awards. We’ve seen something saying you were a hero on your mission. You met real aliens! We’re so proud of you, Cain,” Alora and Danny gushed. Cain wondered if they were proud that he got married in a rush, and yet here he was, back in Aletha’s home, looking to beg her forgiveness.
“Before I start telling boring stories, I need to talk with the Artificial Intelligence in New Sanctuary. That attack on the rainforest road was bizarre. I need some answers.” He excused himself and opened his neural implant.
‘Holly, has the Security Bot found anything yet? Why was I attacked? Did anyone know it was me on the road or just bad luck on my part? Why, Holly, are these things happening?’ Cain asked in a stream of consciousness. The drive from the attack site had done little to calm his mind.
‘Master Cain, the security bot found the site, but the bodies and the blockade had been removed. Since you checked in before you left, I have the recorded evidence that the attack occurred. The rain washed away most of the remaining evidence, but not all. The security bot will be returning shortly and in the interim, we’ve been in contact with the Council of Elders. The Amazonian representative will be working with his people to find answers. I don’t recommend a return trip through the rainforest until we figure this out,’ Holly advised.
‘Holly, there’s only one question that matters. Are they coming after me?’ Cain prodded, looking for a reason why he was on the receiving end of what he considered to be an assassination attempt.
‘The truth, Cain. I can’t rule it out. Information regarding your role in saving the landing party and the fact that we are putting a small military group on the next expedition has many people upset. Peace has been the mantra on Vii for all their lives. And here we are, training ourselves to make war. Many believe this is leading us down a path to civil war. They feel that if only one group has weapons, then everyone else will be subservient to them. So the other groups are looking to arm themselves. Peaceful people, overnight, have embraced the power of violence.’ Holly sounded different, sad.
‘I don’t know what to tell you, Holly. Maybe we emphasize the “space” part of the Cygnus Marines, tell the people that no military will be stationed on the planet. I guess that’s my own argument against why I should be able to carry a blaster. Thanks, Holly. You want me to drive to the coast and around the rainforest to return?’ Cain asked.
‘No, we’ll send a jumper to pick you. Let us know when you’ll be leaving and the ship w
ill be there in an hour. We’ll bring you back to New Sanctuary, escort you to Livestel, then you’ll spend the remainder of your time in the confines of Space School where the training of the new recruits will take place,’ Holly directed.
‘Who works for whom here, Holly?’ Cain retorted. The more he was in charge, the less he was able to make decisions.
‘When it comes to space, we all work for the SES. Admiral Jesper is none too pleased with the latest development. You should probably check in with him. I’m sorry, but I failed to inform you that you report directly to the admiral from now on in your role as a Major of Marines,’ Holly said, seeming to perk up.
‘You failed to tell me…’ Cain let that hang. ‘Make sure you don’t fail to tell the admiral that little tidbit. I’ll check in right now. No, wait. In a little bit. I have to go, Holly. I’ll be back in touch.’ Cain closed his implant as he saw a familiar figure walking quickly toward the house.
He rushed to the front door and walked out. The curls. The hazel eyes. The smile. All was instantly right with his world. She stopped and looked at him. Cain remembered he was wearing a towel. He shrugged, then walked barefoot three steps down, carefully, not wanting to trip. Aletha ran, nearly knocking him over as she embraced him.
Cain’s towel came free and he caught it with one hand before it dropped to the ground. He wrapped it around both of them as his lips sought hers, and they kissed as he held her within his towel, his naked body pressed against her. He kissed her cheek and found her neck that he caressed with his lips and tongue.
“Cain,” Aletha whispered. “Cain!” More urgently. He leaned back so he could look into her eyes. She darted a glance over his shoulder and nodded. He looked back to see Alora and Danny on the top step, watching them and waving timidly. He looked down, instantly embarrassed to see his nakedness pressed against their daughter. He giggled. Then backed up to rewrap the towel around himself, apologizing to Aletha’s parents the whole time. They returned to the house, where Cain and Aletha sat on the couch, always touching, hand in hand.
Alora elbowed her husband and said that they had to get lunch ready. Cain looked at the clock on the wall. It was only midday.
When Alora and Danny were gone, Aletha leaned Cain back and kissed him as she crawled into his lap and curled against him. She held a finger to his lips.
“You’re a married man, now, what are you doing kissing me?” she said, her tone gentle, not accusing.
“But I’m not married. That was a mistake that we have fixed. I live and work in half a gee of the wastewater processing area. If that doesn’t draw women to me, then I don’t know what will,” he countered, tickling her neck. He looked into her eyes and was lost. Nothing else mattered to him. He stroked her cheek, but she pushed him away.
“What do you want, Cain?” she asked abruptly.
“I want you, Aletha. Marry me, move to the station at De’atesh Shipyards. We’ll live there, in space where we can watch the stars together, make love, be together as we were meant to be,” he pleaded, wondering why he sounded like he was begging.
‘Because you are,’ Lutheann’s voice popped into his head. She looked at him from her comfortable perch on a cushioned chair across the living room. He hadn’t seen her return, but there she was.
“I’m in school now. I’m going to get a degree, maybe go into medicine. Can I do that on the space station?” Cain didn’t know. He stammered, not understanding why Aletha was acting that way.
“So, you leave abruptly, do awful things, then you come back and expect me to run away with you. How many people did you kill, Cain?”
He pushed her off his lap and stood. He didn’t understand her anger. “Three, but that was just today,” he answered coldly.
“You killed people today, and you have the gall to come here and start kissing me?” She made a fist and beat on his chest. He pulled her to him and hugged her tightly. His tears fell into her blond curls as he sobbed like a child. They stood that way for a long time until he was too tired to keep crying. He sat down, feeling foolish for still wearing a towel.
“I wanted to be worthy of you, like the captain who’d saved people in our school. So I go away. You stay here, but trouble followed me. To the Traveler, to space, to Concordia, and back here. No matter where I am, it seems someone or something has it in for me. They gave me a bunch of medals for saving myself, saving others. They promoted me and put me in charge of building the Cygnus Marines. We’re going to take the battle to them, to the Concordians. And I’ll be right in front with my blasters and some half-assed plan,” he told her.
‘And me,’ Lutheann added.
“And Lutheann. You haven’t met. Aletha, this is Lutheann.” The ‘cat jumped onto the couch beside her. Aletha smiled and scratched behind Lutheann’s ears. They looked into each other’s eyes, one pair hazel, one green.
‘Cain, you are such an ass!’ Luthie finally said in her thought voice.
“Wait, what?” he asked. Aletha wasn’t privy to the conversation so she looked at the two, wondering what the ‘cat had said.
‘She is in pain and you’re not helping. You say you come back for her and in the next breath, you tell her you are going to war. I can’t believe I got stuck with you. The ‘cat nation owes me!’ Lutheann insisted.
“The ‘cat nation!” Cain blurted out loud, then he looked into Aletha’s beautiful eyes once again. “I am so sorry, Aletha, for leaving you, again and again. Of course you need to stay here. Finish your education, do something important for others, which is what you’ve always done.” He pulled her face to his and kissed her, softly. Then stepped back.
“Alora! I need my uniform,” he yelled, earning him a punch from Aletha before she left the room in search of her mother, who was still pressing his clothes. Aletha stopped her and said they were good enough. Cain dressed in Aletha’s bedroom while she watched. She saw the scars on his arms, on his body, knowing there was a story for each and that there would be more scars, many more.
“I’m not sure I can wait for you, Cain,” she whispered. He stopped dressing and carefully laid his uniform blouse on a chair. He faced her, watching as she slowly undressed. She didn’t smile. It was hard to smile when saying goodbye. She helped him out of his clothes and with a surge of strength, she threw him onto her bed and pounced on him, unleashing her passion in a way that left them both sweating and panting.
There wasn’t much left to say after that except, “I love you. I will always love you,” Cain told her. She kissed him, trembling at his touch. He held her hand until he got out of bed.
He dressed, feeling his clothes stick to his sweat, the smell of Aletha on him. He knew it was time to leave. The longer he stayed, the harder it would be to walk away from her.
“I have to go now,” he finally said, standing tall in his clean uniform, the mottled green looking right on him. His medals and rank stood out. Two Shooting Stars, three Space Stars, and his major’s leaves. She nodded, choked up, tears running down her face. He clenched his jaw. The SES and even if they didn’t know it, all of Vii was counting on him. He turned from her. “The ship is life,” was all he could think to say.
He closed the door quietly behind him as he left and headed outside. Lutheann was there waiting.
‘I’ve sent word to the ‘cats. Summon our ride, dumbass, so we can get out of here,’ Lutheann ordered. He couldn’t have felt worse, but a fire smoldered within. He was leaving this behind, a sacrifice that would haunt him every day for the rest of his life. He opened his neural implant.
‘Holly, send the Jumper…’
Briz Unleashed
Briz didn’t watch as the others left. He felt alone with the ship and Jolly. He couldn’t have been happier. He worked until he fell asleep wherever he was, then woke and continued, moving from one pet project to the next. His redesign of the power conduits and couplings would allay many of his fears regarding the additional power flow that the SES was insisting the Cygnus-12 be already able to handle.
&n
bsp; On day three of the upgrades, they finally sent the schematics for the additional power generation system. Briz had thought they’d simply put in a bigger nuclear power plant at the bottom of the spindle, but that wasn’t the plan at all. They were adding four separate nuclear generators in arms above the core module. They were going to add a second core above the first as an additional layer of physical protection from asteroids or other space debris as they flew within the gravity well. The new module would not be staffed. It would be plumbed for atmospheric control but wouldn’t be pressurized unless needed. To Briz, it looked like they were adding a huge storage space to the ship that was capable of holding a large contingent of people.
‘Jolly,’ Briz asked, ‘are we going to take on refugees or something?’ Why are we adding such a module?’
‘I don’t know, Briz,’ the AI said as he talked with his best friend. Jolly was sentient, an integral member of the crew. No one knew him like Briz. They found it easy to talk and Briz was almost as intelligent as the AI, which Jolly found refreshing. ‘With the design, I suspect it is for an armed contingent of some size. It suggests that we’ll be transporting troops at some point.’
Cygnus Expanding: Humanity Fights for Freedom (Cygnus Space Opera Book 2) Page 7
